


Bridging the Gap

by godtiermeme



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-16
Updated: 2014-08-16
Packaged: 2018-02-13 09:03:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2144913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godtiermeme/pseuds/godtiermeme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The town of Shiganshina is home to Trost University, a prestigious college with a massive number students. So, naturally, it revolves around the campus. Everything that happens at Trost is known to the residents of Shiganshina within a day. Events on campus draw the entire town. In fact, the college is so central to the small town that students’ lives often end up getting tangled up within the lives of at least a few locals.</p><p>Freshman dropout and in-town drifter, Eren Jaeger, is the exception. Or, at least, he thought he was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> While this story will focus on the Levi/Eren (which, by the way, you can do whatever the hell you want with the age, but I will definitely set Eren's at 19), I also plan to feature more relationships in the background and definitely build some character junk up. So, stick with it. Or don't. Whichever. This first chapter takes place inside Shadis' Café, which will probably make a few more appearances. A few? Ha. Haha. A lot.

Four aces and a king.

A pale, black-haired man by the name of Levi glanced at his cards. He toyed with his poker chips for a moment and took a quick look at his opponents. Shadis, who just so happened to be chugging a bottle of Guinness, had folded this round. Erwin was already broke. No, the one he had to worry about was Hanji. Hanji Zoë—the long-time waitress and recently-promoted head waitress—who just sat across from him, grinning at every hand.

“Hmph.” Levi scooped up his last few chips and tossed them to the middle of a wooden table. “Not like I have much to lose.”

“Feeling cocky tonight?” commented the bespectacled woman known as Hanji Zoë. “Okay, I’ll play along. Show me what you’ve got.” Her grin widened as she pushed her sizeable pile of chips to the middle.

“Four of a kind,” replied Levi, dropping his cards on the table.

“Aw, poor baby.” Hanji stuck out her lower lip in a good-natured but still derisive pout. “Royal flush, bitches!” She threw down her hand and grabbed her newfound winnings, beaming from ear to ear. “Thank you, for the tip, Levi.”

Levi sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “You’re welcome,” he sarcastically spat back. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go take a piss.”

“Don’t lose any more money on the way back!” ribbed Hanji.

“I won’t,” Levi grumbled as he rose from his chair and wandered to the bathroom stall out front.

_Thunk! Thunk!_

Levi let forth an irritated groan and turned towards the sound. His eyes scanned the darkened bar. The tables were still spotless. The chairs remained stacked. “Hey!” he called, hoping to deter anyone inside from continuing whatever it was they were doing.

_Thunk! Thunk!_

He sighed. “Damned college bastards,” he grumbled, wandering towards the door. That was the only other logical source for the noise after all, right? He secured his grip around the pocket knife he carried with him as backup and stood to the side of the door.

_Thunk! Thunk!_

“What!?” he moaned. “What the fuck do you want, you damned frat brats!?” He threw open the door and peered outside.

And, to his surprise, he found himself staring at the town’s most recent news. A tan brunet with wild hair and even wilder blue-green eyes. The university’s first drop-out of the year—Eren Jaeger.

“What? What the fuck do you want? I need to piss and if you don’t spit it out fast you’ll be my new urinal for the night,” Levi interjected before the freshman could speak.

Eren frowned. Yawning, he tilted his head a bit to the side. “Aren’t you the piano guy?”

“Yeah, and you’ve got a minute before you’re the target I’ll aim my piss at.” Levi sighed and folded his arms.

“Well, it’s raining out and I went a lot further from my place than I meant to, so can I just stay here for the night? Sleep on the floor or something?” Eren mumbled.

“Hm?” For the first time in a long while, Levi found himself without a smart comment.

“Can I stay here overnight?”

Levi shook his head, clearing the cloud of thoughts in his head. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just keep it down, alright? I’ve got an apartment in the basement. Rent it through Shadis. And when you get out of here, don’t go running your mouth about me letting a bum into the café. Now, get in. I’m going to piss. Stand there and don’t do anything stupid.”

The former college student nodded and did as he was told which, to be honest, surprised Levi. He’d heard quite a few unpleasant rumors about Eren, after all. Most of them labelled him as a total rebel without any regards for common decency or respect. On the other hand, the kid looked tired, so it may have been a case of ‘too damned sleep deprived to rebel.’ Aside from that, Levi didn’t have much else but relieving himself on his mind. He stumbled into the bathroom, did his business, and hurried back into the main restaurant.

There, he found Eren sitting on the floor, half asleep.

“Oh for the love of God. Get up, kid. I’ve got to get you down to the apartment before someone figures out you’re here.” Levi prodded Eren with the toe of his finely polished shoe and sighed. “Get up, kid.”

Eren mumbled something incoherent and stumbled to his feet.

“Great. Now, I just need to get you downstairs,” grumbled Levi, grabbing the confused brunet’s wrist and pulling him towards the door leading to the basement.

After a moment, the two emerged into a small makeshift den, which featured a couch and a few foldable television tables. At this point, Levi let go of Eren’s wrist. “Stay down here. Sleep on the sofa. Don’t let anyone know you’re here,” he mumbled, hurrying back to rejoin his group in Shadis’ office.

“You have a bladder infection or something?” Shadis, slurred as Levi finally re-emerged into the room. “Took you long enough.”

“No, I had to take a really huge shit while I was there. Sorry to hold up the game.”

“Yeah, well, I won,” Hanji gleefully declared. “So, you all get to chip in to buy me a great steak dinner tomorrow.”

The remaining three men let forth a collective groan.

 

* * *

 

“Eh, kid. C’mon. Wake up.”

Eren stirred slightly. He groggily noted that there was a blanket over him. A blanket that wasn’t there when he fell asleep. Or, rather, when he passed out from sleep deprivation on the couch of the local cafe’s pianist. “F’ve morminutes,” he yawned.

“No, you won’t be getting five more damned minutes. You’re on my goddamn sofa, kid! Wake up!”

Another yawn. Eren rolled over and pulled the newfound blanket closer to his chin. It was soft. A lot softer than that ratty old potato sack of a comforter on his bed at Mikasa’s.

“You hear me at all, kid? You better not be fucking dead. Then I’ve got to report it to the cops and they’ll think I’m some sort of creep who gets his dick up murdering random street kids. Does it gross you out enough to get up if I say I absolutely love to jerk myself off on that couch? No? Well, damn.”

The blanket began to pull away. Startled and still half-asleep, Eren decided that the best thing to do was to hold onto this wonderfully soft blanket like it was his ticket to paradise. He clung to it and, for a half a minute, continued to bask it its glorious softness. Then, he slipped and fell a short distance to the floor.

“Shit!” He groaned and rubbed the back of his head.

“Great. You’re up.”

Eren sighed and opened his eyes. As his vision came into focus, he found himself staring at a short man with pure black hair and deep-set brown eyes. “Yeah. Yeah. I’m up. Who the hell do you think you are, anyhow? My mom?”

“No. But I let you sleep here overnight.” The man folded his arms.

“Shit!” Eren began to rapidly backtrack. “Sorry, sir.”

In reply, the man pinched the bridge of his nose and heaved a long sigh. “No, no. No. Don’t do that whole formal business with me. Name’s Levi. Just call me Levi, okay?”

“Yes. Sorry, Levi.” Eren murmured, stumbling to his feet.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine. Whatever. Now, where can I drop you off so I don’t get into any legal shit?” inquired the odd character who, apparently, was named Levi.

“2000 Rose Avenue. Apartment B. You’re not going to drag me inside and tell my sister what I did, right?” mumbled Eren.

Levi responded with a snort of what Eren could only assume was laughter. “No. Why would I do that? I’ll drop you at the door and you do whatever the hell you want. It’s not my problem what happens in your personal life.”

“Thanks, Levi.”

“Don’t mention it. Really.” Sighing, Levi unlocked the back door of his basement apartment. Pushing it open, he revealed a cement stairway leading to the alley behind the café. “Now, come on. I’m getting you back to your place before I get into any trouble.”

Eren nodded and wandered out, up the stairs, and to a worn out but finely polished navy sedan.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Eren Jaeger arrived at his half-sister’s apartment at about noon. From experience, he knew that she was normally out at this time. So, maybe, he could just… Sneak in? She’d never know, right?

He edged towards the door as his ride departed and unlocked it as quietly as he possibly could. Everything seemed clear so far.

He stepped into the main hallway and—

“You’re home quicker than usual.”

“Shit!” he exclaimed, turning to face his older half-sibling, Mikasa. “What the fuck are you doing at home? Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

“Well, if you were here yesterday you’d know that I took the weekend off,” she shrugged.

“Damn.” Eren sighed and directed his gaze towards the muddy brown carpet which spanned the length of their apartment hallway.

“What? You think I’m going to slap you or something?” Mikasa snickered, though her straight facial expression never changed. “No, it’s not my job to go smacking you into shape any more. You’re a legal adult. You make your own decisions. But, before you go out, do yourself a favor and change out of those clothes.”

Eren frowned and glanced at his attire. He was wearing his usual outfit—a tan hooded sweatshirt with a faded blue and white embroidered emblem (which, as an aside, was slowly unravelling from the back) paired with a pair of beaten up jeans. “What?” he grumbled, “What’s wrong with my outfit?”

Mikasa let forth a long sigh and massaged her right temple. “You need to wash them. You’ve worn the same damn thing for two weeks and you smell terrible.”

“Hmph.” Eren rolled his eyes and tugged off his sweatshirt, revealing the sweat stained white tee shirt underneath. “Fine, I’ll go change.”

“Good.”

Grumbling curses under his breath, Eren wandered down the hallway. He forced open the door to the laundry room and stepped into the bleach-scented room. “Not like anyone fucking cares. I’m not going around rubbing myself up against people. Damned picky. That’s what Mikasa is,” he uttered to himself, gruffly stuffing the rusted washing machine with his current clothing.

“I heard that.”

Eren jumped and scrambled to find new clothes. He frantically pulled what he assumed to be a basket of freshly laundered clothes from the shelf and began to rapidly dress. “Fuck off! I’m fucking naked! And I’m related to you, you know,” he sputtered.

“I’m not looking,” Mikasa replied cooly. “Get dressed and get out. I have my own clothes to wash, too.”

With a quiet growl, Eren finalized his outfit. He zipped up what was formerly his father’s leather jacket and stumbled from the room as fast as he possibly could. “Fine! Fine! I’m out! Go wash your damned clothes!” he snapped.

“You going to stick around a little longer or what?”

“No, I’m going out again.”

“Don’t do anything stupid, Eren.”

“I won’t!” he spat in his own defense. Stepping outside, fished a pack of cigarettes from the potted plant he hid them in. He lit one, took a deep breath in, and frowned. “See you later, Mikasa,” he grumbled, closing and locking the door before he began to wander off to nowhere in particular.

Snippets of conversation drifted from open doors and windows as he passed by the seventeen remaining apartments in his complex. A few stray cats hissed as he walked past their alleys and at least seven different salesmen beseeched him to purchase their supposedly fantastic study guides. He didn’t pay much attention to any of it, though.

No, he was far too bored at this point to care about this ramshackle little town. The perfect little suburban town in the center of a perfect little rural community. Hell, it made him barf just thinking about how sickeningly pristine this place was (aside from its stray cat population). Too perfect, in his opinion.

“Fuck,” he eventually sighed. 3:27. He gave the face of his watch a few forceful flicks to make sure it was still on time.

It was the weekend. Most of the students were free and any odd weekend clubs would have wrapped up by now. Maybe…?

He pulled out his worn out flip phone and scrolled through the contacts. A long list of people he didn’t really give a single flying fuck about, really. Still, there had to be someone in that list who wouldn’t annoy the shit out of him.

No. No. No. No. Yes!

He ran through the absurdly complex menu and managed to start up a static-filled call with his long-time friend, Armin Arlert.

One ring. Two rings. Three rings. If Armin was free, he’d pick up now or on the next—

“Eren!” an excited voice broke the monotonous call tone.

“Yeah, hey Armin.” Eren glanced about. By now, he’d managed to wander about two blocks away from home. From where he stood, he could see up and down the town’s main street. “You have anything going on right now?”

“Well, I was going to meet up with Jean to watch Cowboy Bebo—”

“Oh, fuck. That fucking jerk loser?” groaned Eren.

“Actually, he’s pretty smart and he’s got great taste in television shows. And his friend, Marco, is pretty cool, too.”

“I’m fine with Marco and I don’t give two fiddling fucks if he’s sleeping with that horse-faced asshole. But Jean is a douchebag,” snapped Eren.

“You don’t need to advertise that. And I don’t even know if they’re a thing, so…”

“Fine, he _might_ be fucking the world’s ugliest horse.”

A brief silence preceded Armin’s next comment. “So, um, why don’t we not talk about this any more?”

“Yeah, fine.”

“Great!” Armin responded, his voice cracking slightly. “So, what was it you were calling about?”

“Oh. That…” Eren paused and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, do you have any free time. Like, right now? Want to hang out or something?”

“Yeah, sure! I’m at Shadis’ right now. I’ll be there for another forty five minutes or so until Jean gets back from practice, so…”

“Oh, fuck. Armin, just don’t even say the name.” Eren sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ll be there in five minutes. Where’re you?”

“That table by the abstract painting that everyone thinks is actually a nude woman.”

“The one by the bathroom?”

“Yeah!” Armin responded cheerfully. “See you soon!”

“Yeah,” mumbled Eren. “See you soon.”

Sighing, he flipped his phone closed and shoved it back into his pocket. He glanced down and looked at the dried out patch on his jacket’s pocket. TITAN Scientific was emblazoned in blue and surrounded by an oval of white.

“Shit company,” he grumbled, absentmindedly picking away chunks of of the dried logo as he made his way to the local café.

 

* * *

 

“Can’t you play something a little more upbeat?” Hanji sighed as she walked past the piano, tray of food in hand. “Something a little less like a funeral dirge?”

“Hmph.” Levi rolled his eyes and paused. He took his fingers away from the faux ivory keys long enough to pull up the sleeves of his oxford shirt. “This is Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, you know.”

“Great.” The waitress disappeared for a brief moment to drop off her order. Upon returning, she jumped straight back into the conversation, continuing, “Can you play Beethoven’s smooth jazz or dance music or something? Something more interesting?”

“How about you be happy I play anything at all for these college swine,” Levi snarled, flipping through his large three-ring binder of music.

 _Kir-clang!_ The odd sound of the cowbell dangling above the front entrance drew the pianist’s gaze towards the door. More specifically, it drew his gaze towards the familiar brunet standing in the doorway. “Shit,” he breathed.

“What?” chimed Hanji.

“Nothing.” Levi let the book fall back into place and began playing whichever song landed on top. In this case, it just so happened to be What a Wonderful World. “Shouldn’t you be waiting tables?”

“Yeah, probably,” sighed Hanji as she wandered back to the kitchen.

“Great!” With that distraction dealt with, Levi turned his attentions towards the brunet. Eren, wasn’t it? Yes. Eren Jaeger

He continued as usual. He played the song without a single mistake, though his mind was focused on Eren. Not so much out of infatuation or attraction, he assured himself. Rather, it was mere curiosity. After all, he’d dropped the kid off a few hours ago. What was he doing back here already?

He watched as Eren took a seat at the table to his left, across from a blond who’d been sitting at the same place for an hour.

“Hey Armin,” he heard Eren say.

Levi took note of this and turned his attentions back to the piano. There was nothing much happening there. Just two college kids dicking around. Hell, if he had nothing better to do than eavesdrop on some kids, he probably needed to reevaluate himself.

No, he was the pianist. He wasn’t a babysitter.

He took a deep breath, cleared his mind, and flipped through the book once more. As he did this, he left his free hand to play an improvised tune to fill what would otherwise be a stretch of silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Modern weebs Armin and Jean. As per usual, comments and feedback are welcome and thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'ed and hot off the press. Everything here is probably going to have typos or mistakes, so please comment if you see any! I hope you enjoy!


End file.
